Burnaby film studio goes big

Complex now one of the Western Canada's largest, with a movie roster to match

Canadian Motion Picture Park is built on land that is undergoing change on a scope similar to Vancouver's False Creek and Great Northern Way. New roads, shopping centres and industrial buildings are springing up at a fast clip.

Also, CMPP has been a good corporate citizen. Its property has no drains into the municipal sewer system. Instead, waste is collected in huge tanks, which are emptied by a waste management company. Paint, solvents and all the other detritus from movie studios do not find their way into the environment.

With Canadian currency inching toward par with the U.S. dollar, studio expansion might be viewed as a risky venture. Isachsen and Fatalevich are aware of the risk. They say some other major films will be coming their way, although they won't disclose what they are until those productions have actually start. But Fatalevich hints that the two new Pacific Studios buildings will be initially built for a specific project.
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In terms of scope, it will be tough to top Watchmen. The Warner Brothers movie -- a Cold War thriller which begins shooting Sept. 17 under the direction of Zach Snyder (300, Dawn of the Dead) -- will be in town until at least February 2008. In addition to the interior sets at CMPP2, it has leased a huge parcel of land near the studio on which an entire New York City exterior set will be built.

Fatalevich and Isachsen -- whose studios have been used by TV shows Supernatural and Smallville, and feature films Fantastic 4 and The Exorcism of Emily Rose -- are bullish on their future.